Radar station in Preston homes in on housing development

National Air Traffic Services have been given outline permission to build up to seven homes next to their installation on Whittingham Lane at Broughton.

The body, which is the UK’s main air navigation provider, has applied to build either side of the station and its mast on grassland it says is a brownfield site.

But Whittingham Parish Council has objected, arguing the plot is really greenfield land and the scheme should be thrown out.

Preston Council officers have agreed with the company, saying the proposed homes, which would front onto Whittingham Lane, would not be “harmful to the intrinsic character and beauty of the open countryside” between Broughton and Goosnargh.

In a report supporting the plan, they say the houses “would be deemed an acceptable form of infill and would not present an unacceptable encroachment into the open setting of the wider area.”

The radar station is part of the national air traffic control network which guides more than two million aircraft that fly through UK airspace every year.

In addition to the parish council, two objections were received from nearby residents claiming the houses would impact on the countryside and would be out of character with the north side of Whittingham Lane.